


The Icarus Case

by crispyCh0colate



Category: The Icarus Case
Genre: Original Characters - Freeform, Original work - Freeform, Suspense, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 08:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5157509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crispyCh0colate/pseuds/crispyCh0colate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Criminal Investigator, Aisha Maalik, and his partner Natasha Hollstein find themselves stuck on the investigations of a peculiar series of murders that is striking fear into the hearts of all medical students, in the city of Düsseldorf. The case seems to be leading to a dead end but when Aisha gets to know the student Mali Remes, he discovers a new lead. The both of them get entangled in a weird relationship that throws Aisha’s controlled life completely off the rails. When Mali becomes a suspect in the murder case, their relationship becomes strained and Aisha has to decide whether to believe in logic or what his heart is telling him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phius](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phius/gifts).



> Hello! First of all I'd like to say that this is only a preview!! I will only upload the prologue as well as chapter 1.  
> This is my Nanowrimo project, which I am currently working on, and I have plans to later publish it. But I thought I could show you all the beginning, so you have a general idea about the characters! :D
> 
> Since This is only a rough draft, things may change in the finished version and this is also not edited at all. So sorry for a few mistakes you may find! 
> 
> Last but not least, this story wouldn't even exist without the wonderful [Phi](http://phi-be-shippin.tumblr.com/) who created the main character Aisha Maalik, as well as a few other character sthat will appear later on in the story (like Alex Siu). Also they've helped me A LOT with the story <33.

27th of April, year 1997.

The sound of footsteps hurrying down the staircase filled the house that was otherwise quiet. Mostly no one suspected anyone living there at the moment, as the owners were out of town and not much was known about them in the first place. They never interacted much with the neighbors or invited anyone else for that matter. It was a total mystery as to who Mister and Misses Miles were. At least to the people of their neighborhood.

No one even knew they had two children. Two young boys, left alone in the home while their parents were out on a business trip somewhere abroad. They had not told the children where they’d go.

The older brother, age 13, shook his brother, age 8, awake urgently. He knew they had to act now or never and he was determined to finally leave this place behind for good. The younger brother was still half asleep as he was dragged out of the house by his brother, a backpack thrown over his back. He didn’t know what exactly was going on but his brother had said they were going on an adventure and he was always up for that. It was 1:37 am when the two slipped out of the house.

The residence itself was a rather modern building and the Miles were the first to inhabit it. They had paid quite a huge amount of money for their residence, like anyone else living in Oberkassel, a smaller sub-community of the otherwise large city Düsseldorf. The area was mostly quiet and not many eventful things happened. That’s why most neighbors were pretty shocked when they were roused from their sleep around 2 am in the middle of the night. 

Flames rose high into the sky and smoke filled the air, darkening the night sky even further. People ran out of their homes, still wearing their pajamas or other sleep wear, morbid curiosity causing them to watch the spectacle as firefighters arrived. They tried their best to put out the fire but it took another two hours until all of the flames had vanished. Almost nothing was left of the impressive building and it didn’t look any better inside. Mostly all rooms had been completely destroyed, alongside with the furniture and other belongings. No one ever saw the two children run away into the night during all the commotion.

It was deduced that it must have been malicious arson, an accident being ruled out, the next morning. After some investigation it was concluded that the fire would have not been able to occur and spread on it’s own. Bottles of alcohol were found and the smell of it could be found all over the house. Someone had done a good job of making sure nothing would be left once the flames spread to devour the house.

The Miles were contacted and they returned from their trip immediately, stunned to find their entire existence in ruins. Ms. Miles had a breakdown, while Mr. Miles showed signs of violent behavior. The case of the fire was never solved, no suspect found.  
It wasn’t until two years later that Mr. Miles was found dead in front of the ruin of their old house that had not been rebuilt yet, that Ms. Miles finally opened up about their children. She had asked about Isaac and Icarus Miles but was told that no bodies had been found inside the house. 

Despite how much research had been done, there was no trace of the two boys that had allegedly lived in the house and by the end of the investigations the police believed that Ms. Miles was either lying on purpose or that she was imagining things, due to the trauma of her husband’s murder, as well as the initial catastrophe. 

The case was closed and Ms. Miles went into a mental hospital after she had been diagnosed with a mild case of psychosis. 

One and a half years later, in 2001, she was found dead as well in the same spot her husband had found. Just as her husband, she was killed by a strike to the head with a crowbar, but no fingerprints, nor any other clues were found at the site of the crime. Needless to say, the investigators were frustrated. They found a few leads but neither of them proved to be true and so the murderer of the Miles was never found. Once again, the case had to be closed due to the lack of any suspects or other clues.

Eventually the case was forgotten and hidden in the archives of the criminal investigation department. 

It wasn’t until fall 2015, that it was rediscovered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! First of all I'd like to say that this is only a preview!! I will only upload the prologue as well as chapter 1.  
> This is my Nanowrimo project, which I am currently working on, and I have plans to later publish it. But I thought I could show you all the beginning, so you have a general idea about the characters! :D
> 
> Since This is only a rough draft, things may change in the finished version and this is also not edited at all. So sorry for a few mistakes you may find!
> 
> Last but not least, this story wouldn't even exist without the wonderful [Phi](http://phi-be-shippin.tumblr.com/) who created the main character Aisha Maalik, as well as a few other character sthat will appear later on in the story (like Alex Siu). Also they've helped me A LOT with the story <33.

15th of October 2015, Düsseldorf.

With an annoyed sigh Aisha Maalik pushed the files back over the table towards his partner. He took a quick glance at the clock, hanging over the door of their office, that was way too far away for his liking, and noticed that it wasn’t even 9 am yet. It was, in fact, 8:55 am. Definitely way too early for his liking. It was still dark outside, the sun just barely beginning to rise beyond the horizon that wasn’t visible in this part of the city, since most of the skyline just consisted of big skyscrapers, in which he assumed were other people that struggled to wake up and get into the workflow.

At least he didn’t have a boring office job. If he did, he’d probably go insane. Although he was technically sitting in an office right now, but that wasn’t often the case. Speaking of case, his attention was brought back to his partner, Natasha Hollstein, as she cleared her throat, fingers drumming on the wooden desk, which they were seated at. She flipped some of her black hair back and shook her head in a disapproving manner. He’d seen it all before already.

“Honestly, Maalik. Get a grip. You’re not usually this disinterested.” she said, her voice deeper than the average woman he’d met, but it fit her personality. She was slightly taller than him as well, what annoyed him especially but it was something they’d had bickered over way too many times already. 

“I just don’t see how these old files are going to be of any use to us in the current case. I don’t see any connection at all.” Aisha replied, raising an eyebrow at her. “You called me over at this early hour, saying you’d found something that could help us, but all I see is this closed case about a burning building and some dead couple. Where’s the connection, Nat?” he grumbled, leaning back in his chair. Oh, how he wished for a good coffee right about now. Coffee was pretty much the only thing that could keep the criminal investigator going at this time of the day. 

Another sigh had him practically glare. He was not in the mood for Miss Hollstein’s condescending antics.

“Alright, I admit. At first it seems like there’s no connection. But did you notice what kind of occupation the Miles’ had?” Natasha offered. She waited a few moments before Aisha’s deadpanned expression made it clear that he was not going to play the question and answer game right now.

“They were medical scientists. Both of them. They seemed to have worked together in every field of study and I’ve also found a few lab reports from their earlier years. They specialized in epidemiology and researched all kinds of human diseases.” the woman in front of him explained. This information still did not ring a Bell and he started to become really frustrated. Usually he was a rather quick thinker but this case they’d been working on for the past two weeks was going nowhere.

On the evening of the first October a medical student from the Heinrich-Heine University had been found dead in the nearby park. A passerby had spotted the body, half hidden in the foliage near the path. After a thorough examination of the body, the pathologist had found that they died due to a pulmonary embolism. At first they suspected it was just an unfortunate fate that the young person had met, but then they found an injection wound. Apparently someone had used a syringe to inject air into the victim’s veins, causing the pulmonary embolism and effectively killing the young man. 

They had searched the entire area of the park but had found nothing. Neither the syringe, nor footprints or anything else that could be of use. There was no trace of the mystery murderer. If it weren’t for the injection wound on the victim’s body they wouldn’t even have known it had been an actual murder.

“So? What does any of this have to do with our case?” Aisha asked again, pinching the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming, caused by stress and overall tiredness. 

“First of all, there were also no traces left and the murderer of the Miles was never found. They might not have been killed the same way the student did, but this shows a similar pattern. Plus the connection of their field of study. If you recall, our victim was a medical student who also had an interest in epidemiology. Just like the Miles.” his partner explained, leaning back in her chair. Her fingers were still tapping on the table idly. She always did that when she had an idea. Slowly but surely, Aisha started to understand what she was getting at.

“Hold on. Are you suggesting that our murderer and the one from the Miles case could be one and the same person?” he asked incredulously. That was a very far fetched theory in his mind. 

“The Miles case has been closed for 14 years, Nat. Why would the same murderer get the idea to kill again now? Assuming they’re the same person. It doesn’t seem to make any sense to me. The student had nothing to do with the Miles, apart from the fact they studied the same thing.” he protested and shook his head. He didn’t think this theory would bring them any closer to actually finding the killer. Sometimes even he doubted there even was a murder, that’s how mentally done he was with this case.

Natasha shrugged before rising from her chair. She stretched herself and then grabbed her dark blue winter code, throwing it over her shoulder. Aisha watched her expectantly.

“I admit that my theory is kind of far-fetched, but my instincts tell me I’m not completely off. Now get up, we’re getting you coffee. You’re insufferable like this, in all honesty.” she lightly punched him in the shoulder as she walked past him into the direction of the door. Aisha didn’t need to be asked twice when he heard the magic word ‘coffee’. With a groan he got off his chair and followed his partner to the door where his own trench coat was waiting for him on the coat hanger. 

He didn’t want to waste much time, so he pulled on his coat while walking. They left the criminal investigation department building, the cold fall air making both of them shiver slightly. Natasha pulled her coat a little tighter, while Aisha put up his collar, shielding his neck from the cold. 

“You were speaking about instincts. What instincts?” Aisha asked jokingly and elbowed Natasha as they made their way down the street towards the nearest starbucks. Luckily they were situated in the middle of the city and could reach any important locations within a few minutes. Going anywhere by car was pretty much a hassle at all times of the day. Düsseldorf was littered with building sites, a new tram route being the biggest one of them all, and thus the traffic situation was absolutely horrid. 

“You know, my usual instincts. I just know there is a connection and I can’t shake the feeling off that we won’t be stuck in the dark too much longer. It would be a shame, especially since I really want to crack this case. I hate it when young people get robbed off their opportunity to live.” the woman next to him explained, gesturing wildly with her hands.

“That sounds as if you don’t care about old people.” Aisha replied, the tiniest hint of amusement in his voice. 

“That’s obviously not what I meant, Maalik.” Natasha rolled her eyes. Even though he called her by her first name, and sometimes even a nickname, she preferred to use his last name. he’d never asked why, and he didn’t really care either. There weren’t many things that Aisha Maalik actually cared about.

The rest of the way to starbucks was spent in silence. Aisha wasn’t big on smalltalk and neither was Natasha, which he was grateful for. He respected her and they worked well together, even if he was mostly a loner. So far they had solved three cases together which had helped them developed a good team dynamic. She was not only slightly bigger than him, but also older. With 35 years, she was 6 years older than him and she just enjoyed to rub that in his face sometimes.

Luckily the Starbucks wasn’t too crowded, since most people were either already at work or still asleep. Just some students and the occasional pensioner mingled in the shop. Natasha pointed to a table with two chairs that was unoccupied while they stood in line at the counter. There were only two people in front of them, so they didn’t have to wait too long.

Once the person in front of him had ordered and left to go find a table, Aisha stepped forward. Natasha still had to check the pricelist, but Aisha always ordered the same. Without really looking at the barista he searched in his coat pockets for his wallet.

“One coffee black with extra sugar.” He mumbled, finally finding it and looking down to get the right amount of money out. He liked to keep interactions with people behind counters as brief as possible, barely even looking at them most of the time. This time was different though. Apparently the man behind the counter had other plans.

“Are you sure you need extra sugar? You’re already cute enough.”  
There was a moment of silence in which Aisha still stared at the money in his hands before looking up, examining the person in front of him. The barista wasn’t very tall. Something between 5’0 and 5’2 at most. His hair was dyed in a very light blonde, save for a few strands of the pony and an undercut on the left side of his head. Aisha assumed the brown color there was his natural hair color.

It only took him about three seconds to notice all of these details but that must’ve been enough time to make the guy nervous. His cheeks were already starting to turn a light shade of red and he seemed uncomfortable under the investigator’s blank stare. He was still smiling but it was starting to look more embarrassed than anything else. Next to him Natasha was trying to hold back a fit of laughter.

“Don’t you mean sweet? Cute is not one of the properties that sugar usually possesses.” Aisha finally spoke, catching the barista off guard who was now turning even redder.

“I- yeah. That’s totally what I meant! I’ll need your name, Sir.” He managed to reply in a steady voice while typing the order into the register. The investigator did notice the guy’s shaking hands anyway. Natasha was still having a hard time not to laugh loudly and Aisha had to nudge her with his elbow. This was highly unprofessional in his opinion.

“Use Maalik. Two As.” He answered dryly and turned around to go to the table Natasha had spotted earlier, sitting down in one of the chairs. He could practically feel the barista’s stare following him. At first he pretended not to care but then he turned his head to watch Natasha order a simple Latte Macchiato. His partner and the Barista seemed to be talking about more than just the drink, which made him feel slightly on edge. When he saw her turn around he quickly looked away and out of the window right next to the table. 

“What were you two talking about?” Aisha asked before Natasha had even sat down, earning a snort of amusement in return.

“I ordered my drink, that’s all. I also told him that he’d have to try harder to impress someone like you.” the woman answered and took off her coat, hanging it over the backrest of the chair before turning back around to meet his eyes. Aisha’s expression was full of disapproval, making her laugh. The man sighed and shook his head.

“It’s too early for this.” he complained, finally managing to relax a little. His thoughts were mostly still going back to the case and he was actually thinking about the connection that Natasha had noticed. Even if it was just a small detail, he knew that those could really make a difference when it came to solving a crime, especially such an interesting murder. Natasha must have asked him something, because she looked at him expectantly when he moved his head to meet her eyes. 

“What did you say? I wasn’t listening.” he said truthfully but before his partner could open her mouth again, the barista called through the store.

“Coffee black with extra sugar for Maalik A++” 

“Oh for fucks sake, seriously?” Aisha groaned, getting off his chair. If glares could kill, he would probably have to arrest himself right now. He only vaguely noticed that Natasha was laughing quietly as he walked over to the counter, where the barista grinned at him. Aisha was still glaring. Without a word he reached out to take his cup.

“Don’t look like that! You said two As. I think you deserve more than just two though, so I added two pluses!” the blond boy beamed. If he hadn’t been so annoyed, he might’ve actually found that funny but he didn’t like being the center of attention in a social situation like this. Especially since some other customers were already starting to watch them with interest.

“Just give me the drink, short stack.” Aisha growled slightly and rolled his eyes as he turned away, after picking up the hot beverage. He heard the guy laugh quietly, but he didn’t look back. This was ridiculous. It wasn’t like no one had tried flirting with him yet, but never in such an awkward situation. 

He could see Natasha’s amused grin as he sat back down. He had the feeling that she had come up with the ‘A++’ thing. This morning was definitely against him. But at least he had his coffee now. Everything would be better after taking this break. At least that’s what he hoped. It wasn’t like he enjoyed being in such a mood all the time.   
“Oh god, I think he wrote something on your cup.” Natasha leaned forward a bit, pointing at the cup, from which Aisha was currently drinking. he raised an eyebrow before turning it around, noticing the message in black ink on the bottom.

“Call me, Mr. Handsome.” he read, followed by a series of numbers that was obviously the barista’s cell phone number. 

“Is he serious? I can’t believe this.” the inspector sighed, running a hand through his dark brown locks. He couldn’t help but look over to the counter again where the smaller man looked over and flashed him a grin that was even reflected in his green eyes. He looked almost like a lovestruck fool. The small red-ish tint to his cheeks had returned as well. Aisha had no idea what to make of this. 

“I think it’s kind of sweet. He likes you.” Natasha pointed out before jumping up as soon as her name was called. Aisha leaned back in his chair again and stared at the writing for a few moments. Then he shook his head once more and took another sip. He decided to just ignore it. It wasn’t likely that he’d see the guy more often anyways and he had absolutely no intention of getting to know anyone right now. The case needed all of the attention that he could muster up. Finding a murderer was more important than flirting or anything along those lines.! 

When his partner returned, the investigator had finally settled down both mentally and physically. 

“He doesn’t know me, so he can’t possibly like me. He just likes how I look. That’s how it works, Miss Hollstein. Let’s change the subject. I was meaning to ask what you were going to do with that new ‘lead’ you’ve found.” Aisha hummed, using air quotes to emphasize that he still didn’t think what his partner had found was anything worth looking into. At least he immediately felt less irritated after drinking some of his coffee. Sometimes even he himself was amazed by the magic it could do for his mood.

“Ah yes, thank you for your words of wisdom, Mr. Handsome.” Natasha mocked him and rolled her eyes. He was not going to answer to that. Bickering was the last thing he needed right now. 

“Well, there’s one thing that we didn’t talk about earlier. It was probably mentioned in the report but Ms. Miles said they had two sons. As far as we know they must’ve been around the ages of 13 and 8 when the fire incident happened, but they were never actually seen and none of the neighbors knew about them either.” Natasha explained, stirring her coffee with a spoon while talking. Aisha could tell that the gears in her head were really starting to turn but he was still very unsure about the entire thing.

He took another sip before answering. “So what? We have a mysterious fire, two dead medical scientists in the span of two years and two phantom boys that no one has seen or heard of, and that weren’t found in the ruins. That’s not very much. Wasn’t Ms. Miles diagnosed with psychosis? What if she made her sons up?” He inquired, looking skeptically.

“I think she was actually diagnosed after she told the story about her sons. I know that doesn’t sound any better but let’s think this through. Who else should have lit the house on fire? Someone had prepared it from the inside.” the woman opposite of him pointed out. Aisha frowned and stared into his cup for a moment.

“Are you saying an 8 year old and a 13 year old burned down their parents house and then run away? But why? I don’t think that makes much sense. It’s pretty clear that someone just broke into their home, maybe stole a few things and then burned it down for whatever reason. The kids were never found and only one person said they even existed in the first place. I’m not convinced, Natasha. Sorry.” Aisha shook his head with a finality that made it clear he was done talking about this. The egyptian man had heard and seen a lot of things but this case just didn’t seem worth his time.

“Besides, we should rather concentrate on finding the murderer of the student instead of worrying about some old case that has been closed for years. But nice try.” he added. Natasha made a frustrated noise but didn’t protest. Aisha knew that she was still not going to give up her theory but she knew better than to endlessly argue with him. They both knew that neither of them would budge on their stance at this point. 

Nonetheless, he still didn’t want to make her feel invalidated. “Look, I’ll ask Alex if he can look into this case, alright? Maybe he’ll be able to find something else on this case, even if I doubt it. But you know him. He’s good at research.” he offered.

Natasha’s face lit up and she nodded curtly. “He’s so young and yet he can use computers and the internet better than any of us.” she laughed a bit.

“Seems like you’re just too old to learn anything new.” Aisha teasingly mumbled under his breath. But Natasha had ears like a bat.

“Don’t you speak in that tone with me, Mister.” the woman replied with a glare, almost making him laugh. Emphasis on almost. Aisha rarely showed any emotions despite irritation or anger. He didn’t like being too emotionally invested with other people and most of his colleagues had learned that already. They respected him and knew how to treat him well enough. There was always a sense of understanding and acceptance between him and his team members, which he was thankful for, even if he usually didn’t show that. Aisha knew well enough that this was not always the case when it came to working in a team.

The only one he usually treated a little nice was Alex Siu, their newest team member. He was 26 years old and born deaf, which could be a slight problem now and then, but ever since Aisha had taught himself sign language they had grown closer than most other team members. He knew that Alex looked up to him in some sort of way and the fact that he had learned sign language for better communication had impressed the younger man greatly. Aisha didn’t do it to impress anyone of course, he simply wanted the best form of communication with his team members as possible. Although Alex could speak, he didn’t like to do it very much and usually just communicated per e-mail or sms. Due to his condition he was mostly stationed in the office where he would do archiving and research work, which he was doing a formidable job with. 

“What idea did you have, by the way? If you don’t want to investigate my lead where did you want to continue with the search?” Natasha’s voice brought him back to the present, after he had been lost in thought for a moment. He needed a while to comprehend what she had asked but then shrugged.

“I was thinking of maybe going back to where we found the body again. Maybe we missed something important.” he offered. Natasha tapped her slightly broad chin with her index finger.

“I don’t know. It’s been two weeks. The place won’t be any help anymore. But if you think you can find something there, go ahead. Meanwhile I will go and inspect the old Miles residence. And before you protest, it’s not like we have anything better to do.” the woman stated before taking a huge sip from her latte macchiato. Aisha hadn’t been about to protest anyways. She had a point after all. So he just nodded in approval.

“It can’t hurt if you check it out. Who knows. Maybe your while ‘instinct’ thing is worth paying attention to after all.” he snorted, the corners of his lips tugging upwards lightly. 

“You’re seriously the worst. You know exactly that my instincts are always worth listening to.” his partner said, sounding offended. Aisha snorted. He was about to reply something when both of them noticed some sort of commotion going on at the counter. He turned his head to see that the manager of the store was talking to the barista from earlier and he looked agitated. A young woman was also leaning against the counter, looking pale and a second woman was steadying her while looking absolutely angry. 

They had missed the beginning of the conversation but he guessed that the barista must have put an ingredient into the order of the pale looking girl, that had not belonged in there. Probably the usual case of someone mixing up say milk with normal milk. The blond guy looked distressed and almost desperate while he argued with the manager. 

“You could have killed that customer and this is the third time you messed up an order! You’ve been working here for three weeks but you don’t seem to understand that you need to take this seriously!” the voice of the manager rose above the chatter that filled the room as more and more conversations came to a halt to witness the scene.

“I didn’t mean to do that!” the barista tried to defend himself but the angry woman didn’t let him finish speaking.

“Doesn’t matter! Your mistake could kill my friend!” she yelled, making the barista wince. He huffed, trying to look confident but there was a certain kind of terror in his eyes that he couldn’t really hide. For a second he looked over at Aisha but immediately averted his eyes again, looking back up to his manager.

“I’m sorry but I cannot allow this kind of unprofessionalism in my store. You’re fired.” the manager said harshly before turning back to the woman, apologizing for what had happened and telling them they wouldn’t have to pay anything. The angry one shook her head before walking her friend out the store, waiting for the ambulance that one of the other employees had supposedly called. 

“Well, that’s how it goes. It’s a harsh world.” Natasha commented while she watched the ex-barista give back his apron and name tag before quickly storming out of the shop. It was easy to tell that he was incredibly embarrassed. “I feel a bit bad for him.” his partner added, turning back around to look at Aisha.

The man just shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, he did almost kill someone by mistake.” he stated the obvious. He felt something in the pit of his stomach but couldn’t really tell what kind of emotion was trying to bubble up inside of him. He mostly repressed every emotion the moment he felt it, so he wasn’t going to start exploring his inner workings now. Life was easier when one was apathetic to most situations.

“Wait, where’s our bigger kitchen knife? It was there in the back earlier, I know I saw it.” for some reason the confused question of one of the other barista’s caught Aisha’s attention. He held up a hand to signal to Natasha that she should wait with whatever she was going to say next. 

Two female baristas were looking around their work space, searching for something. One of them shook her head and shrugged. “Well, it’s not here, that’s for sure. Or did you find it in any of the drawers?” she asked, just earning another head shake from her co-worker. 

“I did find the smaller one though, I guess we can work with that. let’s report it to the manager later. I don’t exactly want to face him now, he’s already pissed enough.” the second girl sighed and her friend agreed before both of them went back to work. 

“What was that about?” Natasha asked as Aisha turned back to her, picking up his cup and taking another long sip. The fingers on his free hand tapped lightly onto the surface of their table while he looked around the room. A missing knife and a fired barista. Interesting.

“Earth to Maalik. You still with me?” Natasha groaned. He knew she disliked when he didn’t answer quickly enough but he prefered to think things over for himself before opening his mouth. Eventually he leaned forward and set the cup down in front of her.

“I think I need to make a call.” he said, pointing at the bottom of his cup. Natasha frowned before raising an eyebrow at him.

“Why? Changed your mind about him? Was it his cute butt?” she asked sarcastically, making AIsha Facepalm.

“What do you know about cute butts, Nat? You’re not even interested in those. Or anything else for that matter. And no, that’s not the point! Why did I even answer that?” the investigator growled. Natasha was wiping a pretend tear from her eyes while once again laughing.

“Shut up, just because I’m asexual doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate some aesthetically pleasing aspects of the human body.” she chuckled before becoming serious again, “No, but really. Why do you want to call him?” the woman added.

“Because I think he might have taken something with him that doesn’t belong to him.” Aisha replied, searching in his coat for his cellphone. Natasha still looked slightly confused as she had probably not overheard the conversation at the counter, but he didn’t feel like explaining right now. That would only waste time.

Finally he had found his smartphone and quickly began typing the number that the barista had left on his cup before holding the phone to his ear, looking out of the window. At first he thought the guy wouldn’t actually pick up and he was about to end the call, when he heard a voice at the other end of the line. It sounded as if he’d been crying and was trying to hide it.

“Mali Remes here, who’s this?”


End file.
